CHAPTER 39: STAYING?

Serena sat in front of some skewers of roasting meat, watching as the sun set. All the rabbit beastmen had left for home, making the hut peaceful once more.

"They should be done by now..." Theo mused next to her, moving to grab the skewers off the fire. He then handed the first one to her. "Here. You must be hungry."

"Thanks." Serena took the skewer and watched as Theo handed one to Kiro.

Once everyone had food, Serena took a bite of her skewer. It was a bit dry to eat and barely tasted like anything since Theo used the salt sparingly, not wanting to use all that they had at once.

It made her miss the cooking from the caravan a little, but Serena didn’t dwell on it too much. At the end of the day, it was feeding herself that was important. Whether it tasted good or not didn’t matter right now.

She could be more picky once she had a more stable life in this world. Speaking of which...

"Theo, I think I plan to stay here for good." Serena said, turning to look at Theo.

Theo, who was taking a bite of his food, suddenly coughed. He turned to her and exclaimed, "W-what?!"

"I know it’s sudden, but this seems like a good place to live." Serena explained. "This is probably selfish of me..."

But while Serena was cleaning up the hut, she had discovered hidden rooms under the hut. It made her realize that the simple, rugged huts were purposely built to hide the village’s true wealth.

And with a bit of conversation from some eager to please males, she learnt that most of the huts were unconnected and had escape routes in case of a raid in the cold season.

It was everything Serena needed in a home and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have such a home. Not to mention this village was never mentioned in the story. Meaning she could keep Kiro and herself far from the plot.

The Forest City was just her best choice when she was originally trying to leave the tribe. However, looking at this hut and the type of mission she’d gotten from the system, Serena was beginning to look at this place as an option too.

The village was quiet and under the radar, meaning fewer problems for her. She wouldn’t need to deal with politics like in the city and could learn much from fellow villagers. Of course, that was if they accepted her.

She planned to make a proposal to live here long term, but first wanted to make her intentions clear with Theo. She felt a little guilty for suddenly switching gears like this.

"You don’t want to go to the Forest City?" Theo asked, confused. "Wasn’t that your goal or something?"

"My goal was to get out of my tribe. It... It was a good place." Serena answered. "Whereever I landed up didn’t matter to me as long as found a good place for Kiro and me to live. That was all that matter. I know we planned to head back to the Forest City, but I think I found my place here."

Serena sighed, turning to look at the fire, "I don’t like doing this to you after what we planned, but I want to be honest here too. I find this place much better than the city, even if its resources are more limited."

She turned to look back at Theo who went completely still at her words. After several minutes of silence he finally said, "I see... Have you spoken to Elder Samuel about this?"

"No I haven’t." Serena shook her head. "I wished to tell you my intentions before I spoke to him about joining the village. After all it’s not guaranteed that he’ll agree to me staying here and I doubt you’d like it if I did this behind your back after everything."

"I suppose that’s true, even if you’re free to do what you want." Theo smirked for a moment before getting serious again. "I won’t lie and say that I’m not surprised by this, but if you’ve thought about it and think this is for the best, then I guess I can’t stop you. I guess we’ll just have to stay and send a message telling the others about the change of plans."

Serena paused at his words, frowning a bit. "We?"

She didn’t hear incorrectly, did she? Why would he say we? She didn’t expect Theo to stay with them too. He clearly had a life in the city. Why would he uproot it for her?

"Yes, we." Theo smirked. "We promised to become mates once we got to the city. Are you backing out of that offer now?"

"No. It’s just..." Serena glanced at Kiro who was quietly watching them. I can’t say that here with Kiro around.

"I’d like to keep it going if you please." Theo murmured, clearly understanding her unfinished remark. "Besides, life in a village wouldn’t be so bad. It can get tiring in the city. Plus you’ll need all the help you can get when settling down here."

Serena couldn’t deny those words. But she was surprised he would so easily uproot his entire life to live here. Did he dislike the city that much?

"So, are we staying here then?" Kiro suddenly asked.

"I guess so..." Serena mused. "Once I settle things with Elder Samuel... You are okay with living here Kiro?"

She wanted to make sure he was okay with living here long term and wasn’t going to hate it here because of Becky. There was no point in moving in if it was going to make the young cub uncomfortable.

"Um..." Kiro pursed his lips. "The village is nice, but I don’t like that rabbit girl..."

Serena smiled gently at him, "You can say no if you want. We don’t have to stay."

"No, we can stay." Kiro shook his head. "But only if I don’t have to be friends with her!"

"Sure." Serena nodded her head. "I’ll make sure of that."